Brassiere



F. V. GRAF BRASSIERE Oct.u 28, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed June 14, 1950 L Jaua-W210i.d Efedfaf wMW/MM /lT'roRNey F. V. GRAF BRASSIERE Y 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed June 14, 1950 nenior. Emil/Graf:

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Patented Oct. 28, 1952 UNITED FATENT OFFICE fi Claims.

This invention relates to a brassire, and more particularly to a brassire wherein an improved means is used to impart to the breast cups a desirable, more comfortable dome shape; and pertains to a modification of the brassire shown in my copending application Serial Number 32,822, iiled June 14, 1948.

Heretofore in manufacturing brassires it has been a common practice to cut out a number of independent segments of sheet material and sew them to each other in a breast cup forming assembly. This has been a somewhat tedious and time consuming operation.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a brassire wherein the portions of sheet material which combine to make each breast supporting cup are maintained in one piece, thus expediting constructing the breast cup, and at the same time aiding the manufacturer in providing the complete breast cups with the desired curvatures or convexities necessary to conform them accurately and comfortable to the breasts of the wearer of the brassire.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, which has been reduced to practice,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the brassire, portions of the attached elastic band being broken out to contract the view.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the pattern for each twin breast cup, showing the shape of the piece of cloth for the breast cup before it is folded and stitched into the cup shape.

Fig. 3 is a front view of one of the completed breast cup blanks, separately shown.

Figs. i and 5 are, respectively, upper and lower views of the breast cup blank shown in Fig. 3, the view points of the observer being indicated by the arrows 1i and 5.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the breast cup shown in Fig. 8, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow 6.

Fig. 'I is a vertical section through one of the breast cups shown in Fig. 8, the scale being enlarged and the plane of section indicated by angular line 1l, on the latter view, the front part of the breast of the wearer being shown in elevation and the rear part of her breast being sectioned.

Fig. 8 is a perspective View, on a reduced scale, of the brassire, in place upon the body of the wearer.

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of a modification of 2 the brassire, portions of the attaching band being broken out to contract the View. v

Fig, 10 is a plan view of a templet to be used in marking cut-out lines on the sheet material used in making the breast cups, or this view may be taken to represent the sheet for the breast cup out cut preparatory to being sewed into a slightly different breast cup formation.

Fig. 1l is an outside face View of a breast cup forming sheet folded throughout its right half as viewed in the drawing, to the proper condition for stitching.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view showing, on a reduced scale, the brassire of Fig. 9 in place upon the body of the wearer, the breast cups being slightly modified.

Fig. 13 is a perspective view showing, on the scale of Fig. 12, a brassire wherein each breast cup is made oi' a sheet of fabric folded in the manner illustrated in Fig. 11.

Fig. 1li differs from Fig. 12 and 13 only in that a further modification of the breast cup is shown.

Referring in detail to Figs. l to '7 of the drawings, the brassire shown comprises a partly divided body portion lii which overlies the chest of the wearer and which carries the open top breast cups ll, body encircling elastic band portions 12 carrying at their outer end fasteners i3, branched shoulder straps M which connect the portions of the brassire above the breast cups with said shoulder straps. Between the breast cups is shown the male member l5 of a two part fastener which will be used to cause a slip worn over the brassire to conform to the shape of the breast cups.

The twin breast cups il are made of suitable soft, pliable sheet material, the pattern for which is shown in Fig. 2, where it is seen that said pattern is that of a modified semi-ellipse with a curved edge portion il and a broadly V-shaped edge portion |18, and a short horizontal line ita forms a truncated V to make Fig. 2 harmonize with Fig. 3, the ellipse being divided transversely of its long axis by its latter edge portion. The apex of this substantially V-shaped edge portion is located in the long axis of said ellipse and is shown slightly blunted, as indicated at lila. Figure 2 further shows the straight edges of the V being approximately After cutting out the pattern shown in Fig. 2 the next step in making a breast cup is to form in said pattern a plurality of radial folds I9, shown in Fig. 3, where it is seen that the formation of said folds produces a series of substantially triangular tucks or folds I9, 2Q which start at the base of the cup and progressively decrease yfrom the base of the cup toward the approximate center line and flare out again toward the upper part of the cup, so that the appearance of the cup is like that of an igloo In Fig. 4, the observer looks down upon the partly shaped convex breast cup, seeing the upper tucks 2l, and in Fig, 5 he looks up and sees the lower tucks 20. In order to complete each breast cup its entire curved edge portion from B to C as shown in Figs. 1 and 9 is stitched into the circular opening 25 will surround about four-fifths of the aperture 25 leaving an open space D of approximately one fth 2l of aperture 25 in body portion l0, Fig. 1.

In Fig. 9, the breast cup opening D continues evenly With the open top body portion 25.

The opening D in the breast cups is shown in Figs. 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Said breast cups have a larger cubic inch displacement than the conventional breast cups, due, to the hollow semi-spherical design likened to an Eskimo igloo as shown in Fig. and will give the larger breasts a much smaller appearance, together with a iirm and comfortable support.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation illustrating a breast cup of the same general shape as the breast cups shown in Figs. l and 8, the tucks and 2i being clearly shown.

In Fig. 7 the breast cup l l is shown having an upwardly extending front part Hx that may terminate slightly below, or, as shown, slightly7 overlie the nipple, of the wearer, and the upper part of the breast being exposed.

The tucks shown in Fig. 8 correspond to the pattern of the tucks of Fig. 3.

The body portion lila of the brassire shown in Fig. 9 is similar to that of the brassire shown in Fig. 1 except that a portion is cut out of the body piece leaving an open space 2S, at the upper end of the body portion ma. An eyelet hole 28 is provided, through which a continuous cord or strip 29 is fed, said strip passing through the shoulder strap loop 30, or metal ring 3i.

The pattern P shown in Fig. 10 may be superimposed upon the sheet of material from which a breast cup is to be made and then its notches 33 and 34 be used to guide a pencil in marking the pleats to be made in forming the tucks shown in Fig. 11. Also a piece of cloth cut according to said pattern may be sewed together in such a manner as to close up said notches 33 and 34 and thus be formed into the desired dome shaped breast cup, as shown in Fig. 13.

In Fig, 12 each breast cup lib is shown having a modified side to side upper double segment 35, middle segment 33 and lower segments 31 and 38.

`In Fig. 13 are shown lower tucks 20a and upper tuck 2 la, corresponding respectively to the tucks 20a and 2m of Fig. 11. These tucks all result from folding and then sewing according to 4 the markings 23x and 2 lx shown on the left half of Fig. 11.

In Fig. 14 each modified breast cup i9 is shown composed of a lower central section lll to each side of which is sewed a lateral section 42.

I claim:

1. A brassire comprising a body encircling band having breast receiving apertures therein which are substantially surrounded by circular edges, each aperture being provided with a cup having a substantially U-shaped opening in its upper edge, and a curved lower edge secured to said circular edge of each aperture and substantially covering said aperture, said body encircling band having a cut-out above each aperture, said cut-out and said U-shaped edge forming an open top brassire cup, and securing means attached to the free edges of said cut-out adjacent said aperture.

2. A blank for forming a brassire cup comprising a ilat sheet of material of semi-elliptical lower edge, two straight edges in the shape of a truncated V extending between the lower ends of said semi-elliptical edge, said straight edges being approximately the apex of the V being directed into the body of said sheet material and lying on the major axis of the ellipse defined by said semi-elliptical edge, whereby an opening is formed when the edges of the V are drawn toward each other.

3. A brassire cup of approximately 310 degrees adapted to be secured to the edge of an opening in a brassire, comprising a semi-spherical cup-like body having a plurality oi radially extending folds, each fold progressively decreasing intermediate the edges of said cup to the median line between the inner and outer edges of the cup, each fold flaring outwardly to give a dome shape as to the completed breast cup.

4. In a brassire, a body encircling band having breast receiving apertures therein, a partially open cup partially closing each of said apertures and stitched to said body encircling band, each of said cups comprising a plurality of substantially triangular sector elements, each of said elements being secured together by folds extending radially between each of said sectors, said folds progressively decreasing intermediate the edges of said cup.

FRED V. GRAF.

REFERENCES CETED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,748,715 Imershein Feb. 25, 1930 2,121,088 La Rue June 2l, 1938 2,418,016 Edelston Mar. 25, 1947 2,501,860 Becker Mar. 28, 1950 2,517,287 Corbeil Aug. 1, 1950 

